Rainy season comes, dengue cases up
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the rainy season about to start, an increasing number of dengue fever patients are crowding a number of city hospitals, which have had to provide extra beds and treat the patients in the corridors.
The Jakarta Health Agency warned on Sunday that with the arrive of the rainy season, the number of dengue patients would continue to rise across the city in the coming weeks.
"We are finding that the number of patients being admitted to several hospitals in Jakarta has been increasing over in the last few days. We are now intensively monitoring the cases as we are afraid there could be a sudden jump on the number of those coming down sick," Jakarta Health Agency spokeswoman Zelfino told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
She said that the rainy season would lead to pools of water being formed in many places, which was perfect for the Aedes aegypti mosquito to breed.
In the city-owned Pasar Rebo hospital in East Jakarta, a total of 53 patients are being treated for dengue fever, with 14 new patients arriving at the hospital on Saturday.
Last week the hospital only treated 23 dengue patients.
Hospital spokesman Dedy said on Sunday that the hospital had prepared an extra 26 beds and several rooms to prepare for an increasing number of patients.
"We just want to be prepared when a dengue emergency in declared in Jakarta," he explained.
Dedy said that the hospital had obeyed the government's decision to treat all dengue patients in economy-class wards free of charge.
Another city-owned hospital, the Budi Asih in East Jakarta, also received more patients on Saturday and Sunday compared to previous days.
Fifteen new patients were received on Saturday while 12 were received on Sunday. The hospital is no treating 49 patients, 12 of whom are being treated in the corridors.
Twenty dengue patients were also being treated at the Persahabatan Hospital in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, as of Saturday.
Zelfino said that it was too early, however, to consider declaring a dengue emergency in Jakarta as the total number of cases was still lower than in previous months.
She said over 650 patients had been treated for dengue in the first two weeks of this month while around 1,900 and 1,400 were treated in August and September respectively.
Zelfino said that the total number of patients who had come down with dengue fever from January to October stood at around 15,800, while the number of fatalities was 74.
She said that the only way to stop the spread of the disease was for residents to drain open receptacles, cover bathing tanks, and bury used cans to prevent the mosquitoes from breeding. There is currently no vaccine against dengue.
The health agency recorded 18,000 cases of dengue fever last year, with about 82 deaths, mostly of children. The highest number of cases occurred in February and March, when more than 5,000 people took ill with the disease.
The agency's figures show that the incidence of dengue fever in Greater Jakarta hit 15,360 in 1998, 3,998 in 1999, 8,729 in 2000, 8,820 in 2001, 5,750 in 2002, and 14,071 in 2003.